Election Fever

I was lucky enough to be asked to be the official Stringer for BBC1 last night. This meant that I was their eyes and ears at the Arfon Leisure Centre. I was to call them during the night updating them on what was happening.
I was a little worried to start with as I didn’t want to mess up. But I shouldn’t have been as Carwyn and Dilys of Gwynedd Council ensured that I was fed with all the info as it happened. Many thanks to both of you for your help, it was much appreciated.

The press were situated high above the counters and we were easily able to see where the votes were going.
As the votes came in, for a long time both Hywel and Alun were easily ahead and it was difficult to separate the two.

The votes were sorted in piles of 500 therefore it was easy to see who was in front as the first lots came in.
As the first set came in both Plaid and Labour had 4,500votes each. From then on Hywel’s pile was always slightly ahead and before long we were able to judge that he was in the lead by around two piles (1,000 votes).

I actually felt nervous for them and I don’t know how they managed to keep calm throughout the night.
I spoke with Hywel and Robin Millar who were both fresh and enjoying the count.

When the BBC phoned me later on in the evening, they (the BBC) were trying to establish what the overall feeling was.

Despite knowing he was ahead, Hywel was non committal until a few mins before the declaration when he told me it was looking good.
He said he didn’t want to commit himself further until the official word had been confirmed.

Hywel was then declared the winner and was first to the stand and he thanked everyone for their help and then enjoyed the cheers from some of his supporters in the audience.

Alun Pugh was second to speak, he made a point of thanking his agent Tecwyn Thomas, though many felt he had done him no good having lost his own two seats on both Town and Gwynedd Council two years ago.

Now the hard work starts for Hywel as he will have to work hard to get Caernarfon on the map. He has four or five years to do it - Unless of course the hung parliament means another election in the near future.

Click Here to view election video.